Ethicsgate

Sunday, February 15, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Cleaning Judicial Elections

Case May Alter Judge Elections Across CountryThe New York Times by ADAM LIPTAK - February 15, 2009

MATEWAN, W.Va. — Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive of the nation’s fourth-biggest coal mining company, is not shy about putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to West Virginia politics. In 2004, he spent $3 million on tough advertisements attacking a justice of the State Supreme Court who was seeking re-election. Some of the advertisements said the justice had agreed to free a sex offender. “I thought we would beat him more easily than we did,” Mr. Blankenship said, reflecting on how hard it was to persuade voters. Brent D. Benjamin won that election and went on to join the 3-to-2 majority that threw out a $50 million jury verdict against Mr. Blankenship’s company, Massey Energy. The question of whether Justice Benjamin should have disqualified himself is now before the United States Supreme Court.

The case, one of the most important of the term, has the potential to change the way judicial elections are conducted and the way cases are heard in the 39 states that elect at least some of their judges. In many states, campaigns for court seats these days rival in both expense and venom what goes on in, say, a governor’s race. Yet it is commonplace in American courtrooms for judges to hear cases involving lawyers and litigants who have contributed to or spent money to support their campaigns. Mr. Blankenship, a large man with small eyes that betray nothing, does not often sit for interviews. When ABC News tried to ask him questions last year about pictures showing him in Monte Carlo with yet another State Supreme Court justice, he shoved a cameraman and suggested that someone was “liable to get shot” if the journalists persisted. But Mr. Blankenship seemed eager to tell his side of things over a barbecue chicken lunch in a restaurant here and in the warren of trailers that serve as his office just over the Kentucky line. It is just foolishness, he said, to think that he had spent millions of dollars to gain an advantage in a particular case.

“I’ve been around West Virginia long enough to know that politicians don’t stay bought, particularly ones that are going to be in office for 12 years,” he said, referring to the terms of State Supreme Court justices. “So I would never go out and spend money to try to gain favor with a politician. Eliminating a bad politician makes sense. Electing somebody hoping he’s going to be in your favor doesn’t make any sense at all.” “Massey always has cases,” he added. Indeed, the company is a frequent plaintiff, and it has attracted lawsuits over environmental, workplace safety and labor issues. “If someone wanted to accuse me of something,” Mr. Blankenship continued, “they would accuse me of trying to elect Benjamin to rule in our favor in hundreds of cases, not one case.” But that is precisely what some people here, including a retired member of the State Supreme Court, say happened. “We have one justice who was bought by Don Blankenship,” Justice Larry V. Starcher said of Justice Benjamin in 2006, while the two men were colleagues on the court. “It makes me want to puke.” When the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in November, much of the legal establishment cheered. Here was an opportunity, bar associations and law professors said, to draw a line separating big money from judicial decision making. But briefs from Massey and its supporters suggest that the case, Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal, No. 08-22, which will be argued on March 3, is more complicated than it first appears.

Mr. Blankenship was, for starters, not a party to the state court fraud case that gave rise to the $50 million verdict. He is not an especially large shareholder of Massey, and he does not stand to win or lose very much — about $175,000, by Massey’s estimates — from its outcome. On the other hand, Massey has paid Mr. Blankenship handsomely over the years — $23.7 million in salary, bonus, options and other compensation in 2007, by some estimates — and it is hard to disentangle his interests from those of the company. His direct contribution to the Benjamin campaign was only $1,000, although that is the maximum allowed by law, and he spent most of the $3 million, paid from his own pocket, on television advertisements aimed at defeating the incumbent justice, Warren R. McGraw. Mr. Blankenship said he was surprised they were not even more effective. “When you’ve got to choose between a guy who released a pedophile and a coal executive, it’s a tossup,” he said. Mr. Blankenship, who has long been an active participant in the state’s political life, said he had no social or other relationship with Justice Benjamin, who has voted against Massey at least five times. “Brent Benjamin, rightfully or wrongfully, thinks I had nothing to do with his election,” Mr. Blankenship said. Justice Benjamin, now the court’s chief justice, declined to be interviewed for this article. In rulings discussing whether he should have disqualified himself from the case, he said he could be fair and impartial. In a memorandum on Jan. 30, though, Chief Justice Benjamin did temporarily disqualify himself from all Massey cases, saying “it would be personally and judicially disrespectful to the United States Supreme Court and its justices for me to proceed.”

Lawyers for Massey suggest that the case is a Trojan horse whose real intent is to do away with judicial elections because any spending in such elections is suspect. “Any impartiality concerns raised by campaign spending are inherent in the state’s decision to hold judicial elections,” James Bopp Jr. wrote in a brief supporting Massey for the James Madison Center for Free Speech. The briefs on Massey’s side add that states should be allowed to run their legal systems as they see fit. It would be impossible, they say, to fashion a sensible rule to determine when contributions or independent expenditures should require recusal under the federal Constitution’s due process clause. The other side says it has no problem with elections or financial support. But in rare cases involving especially large amounts from the people involved, they say, judges should be required to disqualify themselves. Mr. Blankenship’s advertisements, which said Justice McGraw had released a pedophile, were rough and arguably misleading. They concerned a youth who had been sexually abused from the age of 7 by two adult family members and a teacher before going on, at the age of 14, to abuse a younger half-brother. The youth was released on probation soon after he turned 18. “I’m just a West Virginia country lawyer running for office,” Justice McGraw said. Of the advertisements, he said: “They say our court set a child molester loose in our schools. It’s absolutely untrue. I’m embarrassed to go out in public. They’ve absolutely destroyed me.” Mr. Blankenship cheerfully conceded that his real objection was to Justice McGraw’s rulings against corporate defendants. “Being the street fighter that I am,” he said, he had instructed his aides to find a decision that would enrage the public. When they returned with an unsigned opinion in the sex abuse case, which Justice McGraw had joined, Mr. Blankenship said he knew he had hit pay dirt. “That killed him,” Mr. Blankenship said of Justice McGraw, smiling.

Many of NY's judges aren't really elected. Many are appointed. Look at the current administrative judge, Pfau. She is an appointed judge, and then in the fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional process the OCA uses, she was appointed an "acting supreme court justice." The constitution only allows the "temporary" assignment, yet the OCA makes these appointments which never end. The definition of "temporary" legally means for a limited time. Not indefinitely.

Anyone who wants to become a judge in the Supreme Court and can't get the nomination or win the election, knows that if they just run for a local office, they can always get in by the back door.

in N.Y by the time they run for election they have donted money to the pet charities of the people that they want approval. then after they pay the money the political party gives them the wink and nod that they can run. Look at the case Margarita Lopez Torres from Brooklyn. She sued in the Supreme court in Wasington. She claimed that it was not fair to basicaly hire and give money to get party support to run for Supreme court in N.Y. They struck her down one of the opinions basically said coruption was okay because in New York it has been going on for years. It was a good case even though the court ruled against her the one that was right was MArgarita Lopez Torres.

Escalating the 'acting' Judge title to permanency was a Kaye reform method to allow all those ROBES that condone OCA corrupt policies in the NY judicial system...a guaranteed judicial position...which would keep many of those who should run and might win an election.... no opportunity to correct what they perceived as a constitutional nightmare, maybe just by their individual rulings.

Kaye's is history and so should her legacy be....this is where Lippman can be watched for continuing any of her illegal programs..make it public and make it big..make him rescind this crap for the citizen outrage!

Join Senator Eric Adams Tonight !!

NYS Senator Adams Virtual Town Hall Tonight !

Re: U.S. Department of Justice

April 20, 2009: We expect to have the name of a specific contact person soon, to whom information may be presented to regarding any complaint and/or information filed with any FBI agent, squad or regional office that needs re-review, reconsideration or special attention. Meanwhile, the address is:U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, Room 3266, 950 Pennsylvania, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530 --- Send us an email request and we will advise you directly once the contact information is made available.

April 20, 2009: WANTED!! - (1) Your ignored complaints to the Commission on Judicial Conduct; and (2) Your ignored or whitewashed complaints to any New York State Attorney Ethics Committee.SEND PDF FILES TO: CorruptCourts@gmail.com

Judge to Cancer Patient: No $$ for Treatment - See Thursday, June 14, 2007 Post

In Fairness to the Courts…

It is not easy being a judge, and disgraceful that the public usually only hears about the bad judges. And while this forum attempts to expose the reprehensible acts of corrupt courts, it is important to be fair to the many under-appreciated law-abiding judges and court employees. Judges are grossly under compensated, and must rely heavily on unnamed staff who sometimes carry their own biases and improper political agendas. So let's expose and eradicate the corruption, but we are socially obligated to consider: (1) how do we get our judges adequately compensated; and (2) what specific and constructive suggestions can be made and implemented to insure the integrity of our courts. Send, too, ideas to make the courts a better system for all of us!!

Our year-long investigation has confirmed that the purported judicial "ethics" enforcer, The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, is itself a biased, corrupt group that protects certain judges while destroying others who have become targets of the political thugs who control them. Something is terribly wrong when even our honest and law-abiding judges are failed by our justice system. The New York State system of justice is a corrupt process that has all but ruined the faith of the people in their government.

Milberg Weiss

Robert R. Reed

Position Available:Another NY Judge needed to be a Hero For Future Generations -- We need another elected New York Judge to come forward and speak out about the systemic corruption within and about the NY court system. Must be willing to assist in plans to restore integrity and the rule of law back to our treasured courts. Benefits: A good nights sleep, and an opportunity to become a hero for future generations. --- Salary: None --- Details: A few private meetings with friendly Federal Agents, and one big explosive press conference. For more details, contact: corruptcourts@gmail.com (Confidentiality Guaranteed- until the press conference, of course)

Click MAY to see these stories:

Hope in the Fight Against Corruption in Our Courts Has Arrived. Her Name is Ann T. Pfau.